Good morning. It’s a pleasure to be here to talk about such a vital subject.
Let me start by stating the obvious: human health has only ever been improved because of advances in technology.
Sanitation. Vaccines. Anesthetics. The MRI. Penicillin. The list goes on.
Science, research and technology have always been at the heart of better health.
It’s no different today. Advances in technology are continuing to push back the boundaries of the impossible.
Today, we have the most advanced technologies in human history at our fingertips.
Something as simple as going to the doctor has been transformed by digital technologies. Before we ever sit down in a doctor’s office, most of us have Googled our symptoms and diagnosed ourselves.
Digital technologies enable us to test for diabetes, HIV and malaria on the spot, instead of sending samples off to a laboratory.
3-D printing is revolutionizing the manufacture of medical devices, orthotics and prosthetics.
Telemedicine, remote care and mobile health are helping us transform health by delivering care in people’s homes, instead of in hospitals and clinics.
Artificial intelligence is being used to give paraplegic patients improved mobility, to manage road traffic and to develop new medicines.
Machine learning, or deep learning, is helping us to predict outbreaks.
I could go on.
This is an increasing area of work for WHO.
Earlier this year, our Member States asked us to develop a global strategy on digital health.
But we’re already working in several ways to harness the power of technology.
Earlier this year, we worked with Google to develop two activity-based goals for the Google Fit app – helping everyone who uses it to benefit from our world-class, evidence-based guidelines on physical activity.
We’re also working with the International Telecommunications Union on the “Be Healthy, Be Mobile” project, which uses mobile technologies to distribute health messages – like smoking cessation campaigns in Costa Rica, and to help people in Senegal to manage their diabetes during Ramadan.
But we need to do more. We need to go bigger.
It’s fair to say that WHO has not always had a reputation for being innovative and cutting-edge.
We’re determined to change that. Doing the same things the same way will yield the same result.
We need to do things better, faster and cheaper to address the global health challenges we face.
The Sustainable Development Goals are incredibly ambitious. We simply cannot achieve them without new ideas and new tools.
Earlier this year, WHO’s Member States approved a new 5-year strategic plan, with three ambitious targets:
1 billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage;
1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies;
And 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being.
Digital technologies are vital for achieving each of those targets.
We need to find ways to use technologies to transform not just the health of individuals, but entire nations.
But to do that, we need innovation that works for everyone. We must make sure that innovation and technology helps to reduce the inequities in our world, instead of becoming another reason people are left behind.
The most effective technologies are often the simplest, and the cheapest.
We also need to think about innovation in its broadest sense. Yes, we need new medicines, new vaccines, new diagnostics and new digital applications of all kinds to improve care.
But we need innovation in every area of health systems – including the way services are delivered, the way health workers are trained, and the way health systems are financed.
In some situations, the technologies we need may not be immediately profitable, so we also need to find innovative ways to incentivize innovation.
When I took office at WHO last year I immediately put out a call to all our staff around the world for “crazy ideas”.
I received hundreds – even thousands – of great ideas from staff.
Some were truly crazy. Some are helping to transform WHO.
Today I want to extend that call to all of you. We need your ideas for how to harness the power of technology to reach the most vulnerable – those who are left furthest behind.
There is a unique opportunity here for us to work together.
We understand the key challenge that many of you face in realizing your vision and ambition is scale and sustainability.
In women and children’s health, for example, more than a thousand innovations have received seed funding for proof of concept.
But many good ideas get stuck on the path to scale and sustainability.
That’s where WHO can help.
We are uniquely positioned to be the world’s scaler of health innovations.
Our global mandate and global presence give us a global opportunity to make a difference.
We can help match the supply of promising innovations with demand from countries.
We are ready to support evidence-based innovations that that meet the needs of countries.
Today I am delighted to announce the creation of the WHO Innovation Hub. This is a new initiative that will work with partners to help bring new ideas to scale and achieve a measurable difference in people’s health.
Last month our regional office in Africa also launched an innovation challenge, calling for innovative and scalable solutions for health care in three categories: products, services and social innovation.
Selected finalists will be invited to demonstrate their ideas at the Africa Health Forum in Cape Verde next year, and to ministers of health at WHO’s regional meeting in Congo Republic.
The deadline for submissions is Monday – so you still have time to enter!
Ladies and gentlemen,
I leave you with three challenges.
First, know your market. Find out where the needs are greatest, and where your ideas could make the biggest difference.
Second, ask yourself every day if the technology you’re working on will work for the poorest and most vulnerable, or the rich and privileged. Will it make the world fairer, or widen the gap between the haves and have-nots?
Third, talk to us. Let’s work together to take your ideas to the world.
Let’s work together to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.
Thank you.